“No respect. No regard, neither.”

Kyle Kendrick gets no love.

So little love, in fact, that I bet you’re sitting at your computer wondering, “Who’s Kyle Kendrick?”

Well, let me tell you a little something about Kendrick. He’s a pitcher.

Wait, wait. There’s more.

Kendrick pitches for the Phillies. And, though he wasn’t a highly touted prospect, he’s had a pretty successful career thus far (though, admittedly, we’re talking about a pretty small sample size).

Kendrick started 20 games last season in his rookie year and went 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP and a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. And still, nobody is counting on Kyle to be successful in 2008.

MLB Trade Rumors, on the Phils’ 2008 staff:

They’re looking at a rotation of Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Kyle Kendrick, Jamie Moyer, and Durbin (no one’s counting on Adam Eaton). Beyond the front two that rotation is going to be pretty bad.

Old-school journalist Bill Conlin doesn’t think the Phils rotation is so hot, either:

The rotation? Cole Hamels (knock wood) and Brett Myers (make a novena) are set at the top. Then there is Kyle Kendrick and Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton and Chad Durbin and Travis Blackley and…

That is Conlin’s elipses, not mine. I think his point is the Phils have a lot of options after Hamels and Myers, but not many good options.

And maybe Conlin is right to be skeptical. After all, it’s possible that Kendrick’s 2007 success was a fluke.

But me, I believe. I believe in Kyle Kendrick. And Kendrick, he believes in Santa Clause. That’s just one of the things we learned in this revealing Q & A that’s featured on the Phils’ website.

There’s also this:

MLB.com: How many of Santa’s reindeer can you name?

Kendrick: Uh oh. There’s a song too. I need my sister here because she would know. Let’s see, ‘On Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, Dasher?’ Dang, this is hard. That’s an embarrassing showing, huh?

MLB.com: Yes, four is disappointing. If Santa added a 10th reindeer, what should its name be?

Kendrick: Philly.

MLB.com: Yay or nay on the giant lawn snow globes? They’re all the rage.

Kendrick: Yay. They’re cool. We just have lights up though.

Way to skip the inflatable lawn ornaments, Kyle. Those things suck.

And don’t listen to the nay-sayers. They’re just jealous. Well, except for Conlin. He has no reason to be jealous. He’s a big shot. He makes ballplayer money.